Anna Laube Trades Concertos For Folk Songs And Hits The Airwaves

SAN FRANCISCO, CA. (Top40 Charts/ Ginkgo Records) - Singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Anna Laube's (pronounced "Lau" like "how" and "be" like "to be or not to be") debut album, Outta My Head (Ginkgo Records) will ship to over 1,000 radio stations nationally and internationally this month, targeted at acoustic-based programs in the Americana, AAA, folk, blues, and roots genres.

Born in Iowa City, IA, Ms. Laube began studying the piano at age three and took up alto saxophone, oboe, violin, and guitar in secondary school. She was a leading member in a number of orchestras during high school in Madison, WI, and studied oboe at the Academie de Musique Gretry in Liege, Belgium, the year after she graduated.

Until recently, however, Ms. Laube didn't think she could sing.

'I didn't take voice lessons or know about vocal warm-ups or wear scarves all the time like the girls in choir. I thought maybe I'd be a professional oboist,' she says.

She was accepted into the Lawrence University Music Conservatory, but ended up declining and not even majoring in music during college.

However, music was always with her: on a trip abroad to study painting and printmaking, Ms. Laube borrowed a friend's guitar and wrote her first song, 'Honeybee,' followed shortly thereafter by her second song, 'Outta My Head.'

Ms. Laube continued writing songs, but it wasn't until she finished college and took a job in California that she considered, and started, singing out seriously.

'I didn't know a soul. I figured, nobody here knows that I'm not a singer.'

She's a singer now-and has released her debut record, Outta My Head, to critical acclaim. NPR writes, 'Anna Laube makes intimate, heartfelt songs rooted in traditional Americana' and the C/NET Download.com Editor's Review notes, 'Country, folk, and torchy pop gather like old friends in this San Francisco songstress's burnished tunes.'

So does she play the oboe on any of them?

'No,' she laughs. 'I'm currently learning harmonica and banjo. But you never know, oboe might pop up on something in the future.'
For songs, photos, and more information, please visit www.annalaube.com and www.myspace.com/annalaube.